India processors seek import tariff reduction

India's small-scale plastic processors are engaged in a war of words with the country's few resin producers over price hikes.

The processors, whose numbers proliferated in the 1990s, say polymer producers are holding the industry ransom by demanding unrealistic prices, according to a spokesman for the Indian Plastics Federation in Calcutta.

India has four main resin producers: Reliance Industries Ltd., Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd., Indian Petrochemicals Corp. Ltd. and GAIL, or Gas Authority of India Ltd. Demand for polymers generally exceeds supply, which has driven up pricing.

Processors say the only way out of the problem is to import resin, and they have called on the government to remove a 20 percent tariff on some materials.

Resin producers reject the criticism of the processors, saying that prices of Indian polymers always have been lower than the prices of imported polymers.

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